I learn from this posting at Instapundit, where a bit from the Economist is quoted, that “BP” stopped calling itself “British Petroleum” in 1998.

This is ridiculous. If you don’t want people to think you’re “British Petroleum” then it is not enough to drop the name “British Petroleum”; you have to dump the initials “BP” as well. You have to call yourself something completely different. That way people might eventually forget about you ever having been BP equals British Petroleum. If, on the other hand, you persist with “BP”, people are always going to ask: So what does “BP” stand for? Claiming that it does not stand for “British Petroleum” even though it did for several decades up until 1998, and that “BP” now stands for absolutely nothing is ridiculous. Someone will always remember the answer, even if BP aka British Petroleum pretends it has forgotten, and BP just looks stupid.

People get paid vast sums to recommend preposterous and doomed subterfuges like this. Who on earth do they think they are kidding? They ought to be fined vast sums, as should the slug-brains who took their advice.

I seem to recall BAT once upon a time pretending that BAT did not stand for British American Tobacco, but a little googling reveals that if such foolishness was ever attempted, it has long since been abandoned.